Gay rights activists hacked to death

LGBTI Magazine editor Xulhaz Mannan (left) was murdered by a group of men with machetes. Picture: Facebook

AN editor for Bangladesh’s only LGBTI magazine and a gay activist have been ‘hacked’ to death by a group of men using machetes.

Roopbaan senior editor Xulhaz Mannan, 35, was one of two gay activists brutally murdered by at least six men. The other victim was named as Mahbub Tonoy, who was part of the magazine’s executive committee.

The magazine was launched in 2014 with the aim of promoting greater acceptance of LGBTI people in Bangladesh, where same-sex sexual activity is illegal.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson said at least six men entered the seven-storey building under the pretence that they were delivering a package to one of the victims.

“Unidentified attackers entered an apartment at Kalabagan and hacked two people to death by machetes. Another person was injured,” he told AFP.

A security guard at the building became aware of the attack when he heard shouting and shooting coming from the apartment.

“The assailants then attacked me with knives,” the guard told the Dhaka Times.

The attack comes just days after a 58-year-old university professor was hacked to death in Rajshahi for “calling for atheism”, and is the latest in a string of deadly attacks on bloggers and activists in the country.